Effortlessly Polished

This is my fourth Outfit of Christmas so I’ve gone for a relatively straight forward look. Cute striped top, flippy red skirt, some sweet heels and a bright red lip to dress things up a bit. What do you think? Festive enough for you?

The summer before last I basically wore variations of this outfit for the whole season. It’s a very retro style which I kind of love. You can see examples of that summer here, here and here. Last summer I was all about denim shorts and T-shirts (I was going through a casual phase!) but I think this year I’ll be getting back to my retro roots. My current remit when getting dressed each morning is ‘effortlessly polished’… easier said than done I can tell you that!

Dressing for summer in Perth can be quite challenging because it gets SO HOT, but this combo of cool cotton skirts and sleeveless tops is very easy to wear and still looks very polished. For those ultra-hot days which are inevitably coming I’ll wear my hair up in Heidi braids or hidden under a vintage scarf, anything to keep it off my neck!

Skirt: Melville Markets $5

Top: Sonia Rykiel, Vinnies Claremont $7

Shoes: Wittner, eBay

Sunglasses: Pared, eBay  

Christmas Combat

Have you tackled your Christmas shopping yet? I’m going to be a TOTAL pain in the ass and tell you that I’ve completely finished mine. I’ve almost finished wrapping everything as well. Don’t you just hate me! I can’t stand being pushed and pulled through busy shopping centres, always fighting for a parking spot or a place in the check out line. Because of this I try to be as organised as I possibly can. I have an excel spreadsheet which I use to list who I need to buy for, what my budget is for each person and any gift ideas I come up with. I also thrift a lot of my presents, so I keep a record of what I’ve bought and put away throughout the year as well. That being said I didn’t manage to completely avoid the shops this year and did find myself fighting through Kmart along with everyone else in Perth (or so it seemed) on the first weekend of December.

I dressed for combat. Shopping combat that is. Comfy shoes and a cross body bag were essential, I needed free hands to be able to snatch and grab with the best of them. The rest is just a no-brainer, I’ve been wearing this combination of denim skirt and striped t-shirt every weekend for the past month I think. Because this is one of my official Outfits of Christmas, I went with my red and white stripe T, to keep it on-theme of course. 

Do you like my little red bandanna? It’s definitely THE blogger accessory of the season. I knew I’d eventually find one in an op shop, and my patience paid off because I got this one for 30 cents. Woohoo! As I mentioned in this post I’m really enjoying adding little scarves to my outfits. My thyroid scar is hardly noticeable, so covering it up with a scarf is unnecessary, but I like look of it anyway, so I’m going to keep doing it. 

Good luck braving the shops in the lead up to Christmas! I suggest taking a water bottle and snacks with you as well, and always write a list! If you have any other tips do let me know!

Skirt: Salvos Bibra Lake $5

Top: Good Sammies Fremantle $4

Shoes: Good Sammies Subiaco $6

Bag: Good Sammies Fremantle $1

Scarf: Save the Children Subiaco 30c

Sunglasses: Ray Ban 

Candy Cane

So throughout the month of December everything in my wardrobe that’s red or white (or the ultimate, red AND white) gets a serious work out. This striped dress makes me feel festive all year round, but in December I feel like a veritable candy cane! IT’S PERFECT! Of course I had to accessorise my stripes with more stripes and more red, because… Christmas.

Dressing for work in December gets a bit tricky because it starts to get seriously HOT. Finding work appropriate outfits that don’t leave you a big, frizzy, sweaty mess is a challenge. Last summer I stocked up on a number of sleeveless light-weight dresses (like this one) which can be worn to the office and don’t raise too many eyebrows. Just throw on the right accessories and you’re good to go!

While I was recovering from my operation I had to protect my throat and so I got into the habit of wearing a little silk scarf around my neck. It seems to give every outfit a vintage vibe which I love, so I’ve carried on doing it. Finding new ways to wear some of my favourite accessories is just the best! Aside from feeling exceptionally festive, I also feel a little bit French. The perfect combo I think!

Dress: Hand-me-down

Scarf: Bindaring Red Cross Sale $1

Brooch: Gift

Shoes: Salvos Osborne Park $10

Sunglasses: Pared Eyeware

Hello December!

OH Hello December you gorgeous thing! I saw a meme on Facebook saying that December is basically a month full of Friday’s and I couldn’t agree more. Every day feels like the last day of school before the summer starts. The sun rises super early, the mornings are warm and the evenings balmy, the phone rings less and my work load dwindles as everyone gets ready for their Christmas break. It truly is the best time of year!

For the last few years I’ve been sharing my 12 outfits of Christmas on the blog. I’m going to attempt to do it again this year. I say attempt because I’m fully aware that I’ve been a terrible blogger recently and haven’t been posting nearly as often as I should. So I’ve got 12 outfits planned, but whether I get around to shooting them all is another matter (and considering the last TWO times I’ve gone to do an outfit shoot I’ve either left my camera at home or realised it was out of battery, things aren’t looking promising). But I’ll do my best!

So for my first outfit of Christmas I’m sharing my tree trimming look! My mum is pretty keen on decorating the family Christmas tree together, it’s a fun tradition where we eat fruit mince pies and drink champagne and hang up all the masses of festive ornaments my folks have been collecting for 40 years. Each year my brother and I buy a new decoration for the tree, we always try to outdo each other with who can find the best one, it’s sibling rivalry at its most vicious ;)

I'm going to wear this vintage maxi dress to our tree trimming day, it’s not a super traditional Christmas outfit, but it is perfect for a hot afternoon hanging out with my fam and covering the dog (um, I mean tree) in tinsel. Needless to say my red hat will almost certainly be swapped for a Santa hat, which will definitely up the festive-ness of my look. What are your Christmas traditions? Do you look forward to decorating your house each year?

Dress; Anglicare Belmont $8

Shoes: Good Sammies Subiaco $6

Hat: Op Shop

Life Recently

This month has been eventful, but also excellent! The two big things dominating my November was my thyroid operation (more on that later) and the big move into my very first home. Both fairly epic events for your average 28 year old, but they certainly made for an interesting month. After TWO YEARS of waiting and slowly getting more and more excited and then more and more impatient Luke and I finally got our mitts on the keys to our brand new home. Everything is still in disarray and I can’t find half my shoes and we still have no internet, but it truly is awesome. I can’t actually believe it all belongs to me. Every time I bang a nail into the wall to hang another piece of art I feel a bit rebellious, then I remember that I OWN THAT WALL! It’s pretty great.

Here’s what else has been going on…

Eating the Natural Confectionary Company’s strawberry and cream lollies… my friend Caity passed her addiction on to me

Drinking Water! It's gettin' hot in hurrrr!

Cooking anything easy! I miss my mum’s home cooking so much, being an adult again is HARD!

Watching Orange is the New Black, my friend lent me her netflix account while I was bed bound and boy did I get addicted!
Buying myself a few sneaky get-well-soon presents in the form of shoes and sunnies (of course!)

Wearing many scarves! I actually had a lot of fun covering up my operation wound with a variety of vintage silk lovelies!

Reading the Royal We, written by my fav celebrity gossip bloggers from Go Fug Yourself

Avoiding the scales. I got into the bad habit of weighing myself daily while my thyroid was misbehaving and now I’m trying to stop because it’s totally pointless and does nothing for my self esteem

Needing some money please… having a mortgage is quite the ball buster!

Ok so on to my operation… for those interested please read on (for those not, please enjoy my insta snaps!), my thyroid operation went really well. I was absolutely terrified on the day of the op and the last thing I remember thinking before the general anaesthetic hit was ‘OMG he’s going to slice my throat open’ but a second later (or so it seemed) I was being wheeled into the ICU for recovery. My surgeon said everything went perfectly and then showed me a rather revolting picture of a 6cm scoop of flesh, which was apparently the tumour they removed from me. I had a bad reaction to the pain killers they gave me, so spent a rather uncomfortable night in the ICU, but once I was back home I started to feel much better.

My scar sits right on my collar bone and is about 8cm long, it’s surprisingly neat and apparently it should fade to nothing within about 18 months, so I’m really pleased. It took me about 10 days to fully recover from the general anaesthetic, I was seriously dazed for a while there! I saw my surgeon a few weeks ago who confirmed the tumour was benign (HOORAY!) and gave me the go-ahead to start playing volleyball again (HOORAY again!). I’m just so relieved it’s all over and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. In a years’ time I’ll have a few tests to make sure what remains of my thyroid is functioning properly, but other than that I’m basically cured! Thanks again for all the love and thoughts I’ve been getting over the past few weeks and months. I’ve been shocked but delighted to hear from so many others who have gone through similar procedures, apparently thyroid issues aren’t as uncommon as I thought!

Christmas with Salvos Stores

Hi there! Long time no see! In between my operation, moving house and the general mayhem that is the lead up to Christmas I've been a particularly slack blogger. Luckily for me the lovely people from Salvos Stores contacted me a few weeks ago and challenged me to put together a head to toe Christmas party outfit from their op shops. Easy peasy I said and I was super thrilled with the look I thrifted. 

Pop over to the Salvos Store Blog to see the full outfit and read my guest post.

Four Simple Goals

For the past few years I’ve been setting myself four goals every November to achieve by the end of the year. They are kind of like New Year’s resolutions, but with a definite deadline (which I need if I’m going to achieve anything!). You can read about my goals from 2014 and 2013, I was fairly successful with all of them so I’m excited to set myself some small challenges for this year as well. So here we go…

 

Work my way up to running 10km

Branch out and try to use different outfit photo locations

Complete a gallery wall in my new home

Sort, cull and sell my wardrobe

 

 

I think these are all pretty manageable. I’ve already started a running regime to build my way up to being able to run 10km again, although in light of my recent operation I might not reach my goal by January 1. I seriously need to push myself to use different photo-shoot locations, as much as I love those colourful walls I think people might be getting a bit bored of them! I’ve been slowly collecting art for our new home and seeing as we are moving in imminently (eek!!) I think a décor-related challenge is very appropriate. That last goal speaks for itself and is well over due!

 

 

You should set some easy goals too! If you do, make sure you share them in the comments or put a link to your blog post. Nothing makes you feel as productive as ticking off items on a list!

 

P.S Although I didn't officially set it as a goal last year, mastering the art of flat laying has definitely been something I've been pouring a lot of effort in to this year and I think it's starting to pay off! I'm no where near as good as flatlay genius Claire Mueller (find her on insta @capnmueller) but I'm pretty pleased with my attempts... what do you think?